Field Work Essay

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Field Work Essay

A gesture signifies a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which observable bodily movements pass certain communications, either in conjunction with or in place of speech. They include movement of the face, hands, or other body parts. A facial expression like smiling, frowning, and eye contact is also some of them. Gestures are usually a better indicator of the underlying thinking (Fröhlich et al., 2019). I decided to venture out and observe people who live around me. Most of the people observed were sitting at the relaxation places. Some of them were at the park. On my side, I sat at some distance and observed their gestures while they were conversing.

On that very day, there were four people sitting at the relaxation place conversing. Upon observing them, I realized that two of them were touching behaviors and movements that indicated their internal states classically connected to anxiety or arousal. The two were using adaptors gestures in a way that one was constantly touching her hair while speaking while the other was subconsciously shaking his legs as a way to do something with his excess energy. I observed nonverbal adaptors I didn’t know people use. I noticed some self-touching behaviors, like the lady was twirling her hair and then later fidgeting with her fingers while speaking. I also realized from those individuals that smartphones had become a common object adaptor in a way that I noted the person sitting next to the lady fiddle with his phone to aid ease anxiety. They were repeating these gestures each time.

One of the men kept doing a head nod as a universal sign of acknowledgment. All of the four individuals also communicated through their eye behaviors, particularly eye maintaining contact. Their eyes and faces were the main points of focus during their communication. Their eye contact served several communicative functions like conveying information, regulating interaction to monitoring interaction, and establishing interpersonal connections. The last thing I noted in the group was the use of affect displays in their conversation. The display of their faces carried a particular emotional meaning. At some point, the lady kept frowning, indicating displeasure.

Some meters ahead from where the four individuals were session, two individuals were standing while having a dialogue. In the talk, I noticed some gestures that had specifically agreed on meaning. One person raised his thumb indicating the, “OK” sign with thumb and index finger connected in a circle with the other three fingers sticking up in their middle of the conversation. The other one was rolling his hands over and over in front of his associate, whereby I supposed that he was saying, “Move on.” The other thing I noticed is that the first guy was circling his index finger around the side of his head, whereby I guess he was saying something like, “He or she is crazy.” The two guys were using emblem gestures. Not only were they using emblem gestures but also illustrators to illustrate the verbal message they accompany. One of the illustrators I saw them using was using hand gestures to indicate the shape or size of an object. The most seemingly and involuntary natural gestures were flowing from the two individuals as they spoke, whereby the illustrators varied in terms of frequency and intensity. They did it automatically.

I realized from the two groups that body language or the use of gestures is something they did on purpose to explain things, although they also perfumed them without even consciously knowing. Their body language in the form of gestures was useful to aid them in omitting certain feelings and meanings to their acquaintances. These gestures showed the speakers true feelings, and as a result, they are more personal and genuine. I realize that nonverbal communication can also be used in circumstances where talking would be inappropriate. Their facial expression was able to convey countless emotions without saying a word. Their body language communicated interest, enthusiasm, and some reactions to what someone else was saying.

Reference

Fröhlich, M., Sievers, C., Townsend, S. W., Gruber, T., & van Schaik, C. P. (2019). Multimodal communication and language origins: integrating gestures and vocalizations. Biological Reviews, 94(5), 1809-1829.

https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12535